Spring caster for trailers and the like



Aug. 21, 1951 Filed July 16, 1947 ll /l l 22 f L f M. J. RASBACH 2`,564,996

SPRING CASTER FOR TRAILERS AND THE LIKE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug- 21, l951 M. J. RAsBAcH 2,564,996

SPRING CASTER FOR TRAILERS AND THE LIKE Filed July 16, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Suma/nto@ Patented Aug. 21, 1951 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SPRING cAsTEn Fon TRAILERS ANDk THE LIKE Melvin J. Rasbach, Wichita, Kans. Application July 16, 1947, serial No. 761,199

1 Claim. 1

The present invention relates to trailers of the type commonly hitched to the rear of automobiles or other towing vehicles and it has for its general object to provide an improved caster for trailers adapted to meet light service require; ments, for example at the hands of Sportsmen and vacationers.

Y A further object is to provide an improved arrangement for resiliently supporting or springing the live load of the trailer without leaf springs and with a minimum of sway. Another object is to provide an improved caster or swivel typek trailer wheel having incorporated therein mechanism forabsorbing road shock and minimizing rebound. V

Other and further ob-jects of the invention will appear in the course of the following description.

In the accompanying drawings which form a part of the specicationand are to be read in conjunction therewith and in which like reference numerals are employed to identify like parts of the various views.

Fig. 1 is a plan view of the chassis of my onewheel trailer,

Fig. 2` is a side elevational view of the chassis showing the stands or legs in lowered position,

Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the chassis showing the legs in lowered position,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged plan view of the hitch by means of which the trailer is connected to the draft vehicle, parts being broken away for sake of illustration,

Fig. 5 is an enlarged side elevation of the hitch, and

Fig. 6 is an enlarged cross sectional view of the wheel mount taken along the line 6 6 of Fig. 3 in the direction of the arrows.

The body of my trailer forms no part of the present invention and has been omitted from the drawings in the interest of simplicity. Its form and relationship to the chassis are shown in my copending application, Serial No. D134,993, led November 21, 1946, now Design Patent No. 148,- 327, issued January 6, 1948, from which it will be seen that the body is a low streamlined enclosed structure designed to be dust proof and storm or rain proof.

The chassis frame upon which the body rests and to which it is fastened is made of L-shaped angle iron channels assembled and welded together in a manner best seen in Fig. 1. It comprises a pair of longitudinal side rails (Illa, Ib, |90 and lla, IIb, llc) maintained in laterally spaced relationship by the cross members I3, I4,

l5 and I6, the assembly being reinforced and 2 made rigid by diagonal braces l1, I8, I9 and 20. Gusset plates 22 reinforce the forward corners of the frame and also provide surfaces to which are welded the hitch bars 23. Rearward extension arms 24 welded to the frame carry a bumper 25.

Each of the hitch bars has at its forward extremity a slot 21 which is adapted to fit over a horizontal pin 28, the pin in turn being attached to the rear bumper 29 o-f the draft vehicle by means of a bumper clamp 30 (see Figs. 4 and 5). The clamp comprises hook-shaped upper and lower parts drawn together by a bolt 3 l, the upper part having a .pair of rearwardly extending lugs 32 drilled to receive pin 28. Cotter keys 33 through the pin hold it against axial movement relative to the lugs.

When slot 21 in the hitch bar has been positioned over the horizontal pin 28 the hitch bar may be locked to the pin with the aid of a retaining member 35 and a spring biased latching bolt 36. The bolt and its associated spring 31 are housed in a barrel 38 welded at one end to the hitch bar and provided with a screw-on cap 39 at its opposite end. Free to slide axially in aligned holes in the cap and bar, the bolt has a pin 40 against which the compressed spring bears and thus it normally occupies the position shown. A handle 4| is provided for moving the bolt against the force` of the spring.

The retaining member 35 is pivoted to the hitch bar at 43 and has a slot M adapted to be moved upwardly from below pin 28 as indicated by the arrow in Fig. 5 so that it and slot 2'! in the hitch bar together completely encircle the pin. During such movement the latching bolt 35 is withdrawn out of the path of the retaining member by means of handle 4I, but after the member has been positioned as described the bolt is allowed to return and enter the registering hole l5 in said member. This locks the retaining member securely to the hitch bar so that there is no danger of the latter becoming disconnected from the draft vehicle through vertical movement, as might occur in traveling over rough terrain.

A safety chain 41 is provided which has one end attached yby a bolt 48 to the triangular reinforcing plate 49, this plate in turn being welded to the'hitch bar and the chassis frame. At the free end of the chain is a hook-shaped snap clasp 50 adapted to be fastened to a U-shaped link 5l welded to the lower bumper clamp member 43l).

A pair of stands arepivotally mounted on the chassis, each stand comprising two tubular legs .53 connected by a curved cross tube 54 and braced by tubes 55. Welded together, these tubes form a rigid assembly, the forward stand being pivoted to the hitch bar at 56 While the rear stand is pivoted to the extension arms at 51. The manner of attaching the stands is best shown in Figs. 4 and 5 from which it will be clear that the upper ends of the legs are slotted so the two halves thereof straddle the bar, the mounting bolt extending throughalignedholes in the bar and opposite halves of the leg.

The stands normally are retained in raised position (shown dotted in Fig. l) by means of latching devices 53; these are similar inconstruction to the latching device for the retaining member 35, already described, and have spring biased bolts adapted to enter the holes 59. in thelegs 5.3 to maintain the stands in horizontal. position adjacent the under side of the chassis frame. The forward stand may be locked in down position by similar latching devices 60 cooperating with I curved braces Lwelded to the legs,-these braces having. suitable.. holes at-their reeendsfor re- .ceiving the .latch bolts.

. The free-swiveling .caster-type rubber-tired wheel @3 is mounted. on the trailer by means of a trunnion plate 5.4.andatrunnionbearingii both welded to cross-pieces |4..and I5 of theframe.

The wheel carriage. comprises an.inverted U- shaped channel 66 having amatchingtrunnion l plate 6l Vwelded thereto,- the two trunnion plates being pivoted to one another by a trunnion pin 63.

Theupper plate is .provided with apertures. 88 to facilitate introducing a lubricant. between the l plates, and it also has a turned-down-peripheral y flange 5U to .keep outroad dust and grit.

A pair of laterally spaced, .downwardly .and rearwardly curved-arms 12 are pivotally mounted i. on channel 55 bymeans of an elongated pivot pin I3 whose opposite-ends are .aixed tothe side 4`.flanges of the channel. At theirlower ends these armsv carry fthe` axle 14 offwheeLS.. The arms -permit the axle to swing rearwardly andupwardly under the. influenceof -thetrailer load,such

. -movement being limited, however, by .two loadv bearingshock absorbers .comprising telescoping -tubesl and [6..housing afcoiled compression spring T1. Tube 'I5 is -pivoted to channel 66 of the wheel carriage at` 18.while tube` 1.6 is pivoted to the lower end of the arm at 19.

In travelling. over rough terrain it will-be understood that-springV l1 yields in order to abf sorb road shocks. To cushion the rebound apair of auxiliary shock absorbers are provided, each of these-comprising a pair of Vtelescoping tubes l 3l and 82 housing a compression spring 83. Tube 8l is pivoted to channel 86 at 84 while tube 82 is pivoted at 85 to 4a forwardlyprojecting lug 86 on the wheel Vsupporting arm.- It hasl been found that thisdual system of shock absorbers is ex- Y. ceedingly emcient in-operation so that the body rides smoothly and evenly and with a total absence of sway despite adverse road conditions.

A pair of limit rods 81 prevent tubes 'l5 and l5 from coming apart even though the terrain is exceedingly rough.- .The upper end of. each rod is i. Y bent atright angles so it Willpass through a hole in the side flange of channel 66 and it is secured i by a cotter'pin 88. The opposite end of therod slides freely in a hole provided in lug 89 welded to the arm l2, :a nut 98 being screwed to the end f. of thesrod below the lug to limit rebound; the

permissible rebound obviously may be adjusted by screwing or unscrewing the nut.

It will be seen that the manner of attaching the trailer to the towing vehicle leaves Vthe trailer like mounting of Wheel 63 permitting the rear of .the trailer to swing to the right or left as the draft vehicle changes course during its forward movement. The use of a single wheel permits `the trailerx to tilt about its longitudinal axis as thev draft vehicle tilts and thus minimizes the strain imposed on both frames due to tilting.

When it is desired to park the trailer. bolts and 58 are withdrawn to permit the latching ....members 35and thefront stand 53 to drop down. Then the hitch bars 32 are raised olf ofthe pins Y ZBandthe front stand is locked in its down -posid tion.by vmeans of the latching bolts The trailer. willremain upright on thefront legs and ...wheel ialone, but when it is tol be parked for any material period of time itv is desirable to lower the rear. stand asshown in Fig. 2 and take the weight entirely offthe wheel. vBoth stands are provided with feet 9!A to prevent same from sinkingv into the ground.

From the foregoing it will be seen that this invention is onewell adapted to. attain all of `the ends and-obje.cts hereinbefore set forth together with other advantages which are obvious and which are inherent to theapparatus.

.Inasmuch ais-many possible embodiments of the .invention.may,be. made without departing from the scope thereof .it should be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be .interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It will be v.understood that certain features and subcombinations are of utilityandmay be .employed without reference to other features and subcombinations. This .is contemplated by and is ywithin the Scope of the claim.

l trailer framefor rotation about a vertical axis,

Having thus described my invention, I claim: A -trailer caster comprising a horizontal carriage adapted to be pivotally I.nfld-.interi on the an axle, a wheel mounted on said axle a pair of laterally spaced arms extending downwardly and rearwardly from the forward portion of the carriage andstraddling the wheel, the upper ends of said arms pivoted to said carriage and the lower ends of the armshaving the axle aflixed thereto.

whereby the wheel is adapted to move up and down relative to said carriage, a forwardly extending lugon each arm, a pair of coiled cornpression springs disposed forwardly of the respective arms,` each spring having one end connected to the carriage and the other end connectf ed to one of said lugs to urge the wheel upwardly, a secondpair of coiled compression springs disposedrearwardly of the respective arms, each of said last springs having one end connected to the carriage and the other end connected to one ofthe arms to urge the wheel downwardly, a pair of telescoping tubes housing each spring, a rod hinged au one end to the carriage, a sliding connection between the other end of the rod and one of said arms, said connection including a stop member on the rod limiting .the downward movement of said wheel and means for adjusting said stop axially of the rod thereby to vary the downward limit of the wheels movement.

MELVIN J. RASBACH.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Number Number Name Date Cook July 5, 1927 Linn Mar. 3, 1931 Anthony et al. Oct. 20, 1936 Prbl July 20, 1937 Jedlcka Sept. 26, 1939 Solem Oct. 17, 1939 Boden Jan. 7, 1941 Mulholland Jan. 27, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date Great Britain Oct. 19, 1937 

